The Final Build

Wow really has been a long time since my last post! Well since then, my stomach started working again after a few days, though it took a week to get back to normal, I went to Manchester for a stag do, end of exams party, and general mental refresh, and I have hit training HARD!

The week after the last post (so 2 and a half weeks ago), I started my final build for Switzerland. What was planned was 3 and a weeks of intense training, followed by a mini taper for Llandudno Triathlon to recover, a couple of final main sessions, then my final taper. So far it has been interesting, with mega bike hours, good swim sessions and a running injury…

Week 1

The first week went pretty much to plan, with around 22 and a half hours done. Totals were:
Swim: 9k
Bike: 295k
Run: 54k

I felt good and the long rides after the office really started to help, and I began to see improvements. Having an easy office ride on the tuesday, and a long, hilly ride on Wed has given me vast improvements in my bike, mainly with fuelling and stamina. They have helped me be able to ride for long hours on little food and still feel fairly good. Also I have been riding pretty knackered recently, so hopefully when I am fresh I should fly!

Swimming was plodding along nicely, and I was getting my feeling back for the water, and times were improving. I also upped the distance to 3.5k so the full swim should be fine, and leave me with plenty left in the tank. My running had a big improvement in mileage, and I was beginning to feel it click. I did my long run after work on the Friday (due to a wedding on the Sat) and again had little food, but felt great. I was running smooth, light footed, and my endurance was good. Unfortunately it went wrong in week 2.

Week 2

So having had a big week, I decided that having done a weights session in the morning too, that I would do a speed run session in the evening! This was a 20 min run, 10x 1min on, 1 min off, 20 min run. Given that this was the first speed work I had done for a long time, and my legs were knackered, meant that by the last few reps I wasn’t exactly running light-footed! The Newtons don’t offer too much support or cushioning either (deliberately, and this is how I like it), so my feet were slamming into the ground. The end result was some sort of tendon strain in the outside of my left foot between the heel and arch. I couldn’t walk, let alone run, so I didn’t run again the rest of the week!

However, this did allow me to put in a mega bike week. Hitting nearly 450k for the week, including a 230k ride on Sunday really boosted my confidence for the IM. Granted it wasn’t exactly quick, but now I know I can ride 50k over the distance, with tired legs (and having been out the training before, no drinking of course!) puts me in good stead. I just have to wait for the fatigue to lift in my taper so I can push harder.

So totals for the week, 26 and a half hours:
Swim: 10.5k
Bike: 445k
Run: 12.6k(!)

Coming Up

So entering the third week of my ‘supercompensation’ training, and I am beginning to feel it! I had a good massage last week, which cleared out a lot of the knots, but exhaustion is beginning to set in. Part of the problem is a calorie deficit, the weight is dropping off me with all the training, a big part is lack of sleep; I seem to have an inane ability to go to bed late, with training late and working long hours so I have been lacking in sleep lately (hopefully will help correct that tonight!). But the biggest reason is I am putting in more hours than some pros do! I haven’t built up to it gradually, more using the crash training approach, which works for me. Hopefully with my foot on the mend, I can start to ramp up my run training up until Llandudno next weekend, and afterwards I will have a swim week, as this takes the shortest to taper, hopefully with a trip to a lake at some point, one long bike session, and a longish run before I scale it way back to recover. Meanwhile, I am doing the Manchester-to-Blackpool bike ride for a bit of fun with the office. I am mixing it up though, I riding to the start (I live nearish to Blackpool), doing the ride, then riding home! This should give me another big day of cycling, and as this one starts early, hopefully I will have time to run after!

Hopefully will get around to writing a blog before Llandudno as my training scales back!